The Central bank of Japan said in its quarterly regional economic report that economies showed some recovery in all nine regions, despite the impact of rising prices and a slowdown in the growth of foreign economies. As a result, the Central Bank raised the economic assessment for two regions, lowered it for one region (Osaka) and left it unchanged for the other six regions.
"One western region (Osaka) reported that its economy experienced a slowdown in growth due to weak exports," the Bank of Japan said.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank said that national companies are increasingly seeking to raise wages, but warned of high uncertainty about how large such an increase will be. "Although the degree varies from region to region, the momentum for wage increases appears to be strengthening this year at a slightly faster pace than last year. However, quite a few small and medium-sized firms are still cautious about raising wages due to profit constraints," the Central Bank added.
The head of the Central Bank Ueda promised to maintain an extremely soft policy until wage increases become widespread enough to keep inflation sustainably around its 2% target.